The NBA Will Change Forever on February 18th at 3pm

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Did you hear that every team in the NBA wants to offer a trade for Amare Stoudemire?  That's basically what every piece of breaking news from the NBA was this week.  This team wants Amare and this team wants Amare and this team has the package to get Amare.  It seems like every year in the NBA we have lots of speculation on what players are going to be traded and where they will go.  Eventually there are a few trades that actually go through.  There's always the one massive trade where seven teams end up trading one player four different times, the entire collection of Ron Artest rap verses, and the rights to Dirk Nowitzki's psycho ex-fiance.  That's basically it.  No huge blockbuster that we hoped would happen.  This year things will change. On February 18th, at 3:00 pm, the trade deadline will commence and the NBA will be changed for years to come.  Here's why.

Anybody who has been following the NBA at all for the last year or so knows that 2010 is the year.  The year when all the big name franchise players are either free agents or have the option to opt-out of their current contracts and become free agents.  We have names like Yao Ming, Amare Stoudemire, Lebron James, Chris Bosh, Joe Johnson, Shaq, Ray Allen, Manu Ginobli, Dirk Nowitzki, Carlos Boozer, and the biggest one, JJ Redick.  All the hype seems focused on the off season; teams have been cutting salaries like barbers cut hair. That was a quote from Ronnie on the Jersey Shore reunion.  The problem is that it's not about trying to acquire these players in the off season, it's about acquiring these players from trades.  Why wait when you can grab the go now, schmooze him for the rest of the season, make a big playoff run, and then hopefully resign him in the off season.  Teams aren't dumb and players aren't dumb.  A team isn't going to trade for someone for three months and then hope they resign with them.  This isn't baseball.  No, teams are going to push the player to sign a new contract or they won't go through with the deal.  On the other hand the teams with some of these key players need to unload them.  There is no way the Toronoto Raptors are going to keep Chris Bosh after this season so why not get some goods in exchange for him before he just bolts?  This is exactly what is going to happen to many of these free agents that are getting ready for the 2010 off season and if some of these trades fall in place then we will see the future of the NBA become like years past.

The NBA was great in the 80's and 90's because of the rivalries.  We had repeat meetings in the NBA finals, stars together on the top tier teams, and a landscape where we expected the Bulls, the Celtics, the Lakers, or the Spurs to annually return to the finals.  It was what we wanted to see.  It could return to that state if we see Chris Bosh move West and Amare Stoudemire move East.  The trade rumor that has been circulating for a month is to send Bosh over to the Lakers for Andrew Bynum, a couple draft picks, and an epoxy replica of Khloe Khardashian's butt to cover all the empty seats in Toronto.  If this trade goes through then we have a dominate Lakers team with a starting lineup of Chris Bosh, Pau Gasol, Ron Artest/Lamar Odom, Kobe Bryant, and a point guard to be named at a later date.  Bosh would definitely resign with LA and the Lakers have the money to do so with the correct trade.  They would be in the finals year after year.  They need a partner though if we want a finals rival.

This is where the Cleveland Cavaliers come in.  Yes, Kobe versus Lebron for years to come could be in the works.  The annointed one needs a partner in crime though, and so far in his career he hasn't had a perennial all star to team up with.  The Cavaliers need to make the big push for Amare Stoudemire.  The Suns just want to get under the luxury tax.  They know they won't be keeping Amare.  If they wanted to keep him they could've signed him in years past.  The Cavs could trade J.J. Hickson, Big Z's expiring contract, and a draft pick or two to get Amare's services for four months, a run at the title, a solid chance to resign him, and most importantly, have the pieces in place to have a perennial championship caliber team that Lebron James would want to stick around Cleveland to play with.  The pieces are out there for the taking.  These teams just need to make it happen.

The NBA is going to change soon.  Maybe it won't be these history in the making trades that would give us the greatest rivalry maybe in the NBA ever.  Maybe Amare ends up in New Jersey and they become a powerhouse once they draft John Wall with the #1 pick.  Maybe Chris Bosh goes to Miami with Dwayne Wade.  There will be new powerhouses popping up in the next couple years, but to return to the glory days of the NBA then we need to have that rivalry that we hope takes place year after year.